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July 21-23, 2003: A Trip to Buffalo, New York |
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June 21-28, 2003: A Trip Out West |
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Return to Index for 2003 |
Ron and Prudence Ruckman are now thoroughly ensconced in their new B&B in San Antonio, and Fred and I have already been down to visit them a number of times. But Ron has been after us to bring down other of our Dallas friends that he and Prudence used to see. The most compatible people we could think of to bring down were Ron Mathis and Jay Enriquez, who have been together quite some time now. So we started working with them on some plans back in early June, and decided that we would drive down to San Antonio for the 4th of July weekend. Due to everyone's work schedules, we could not leave until the morning of July 4th itself, and that is what we ended up doing. We drove Fred's RAV4, and had a good time driving down, arriving in mid-afternoon at Ruckman Haus.
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This trip marks a turning point in my picture-taking career. While Fred has been using a digital camera for some months now, I had not yet made the switch. And I didn't make the switch until I found a digital camera that was small enough to carry in my pocket; I thought that on hikes I would want to take both of them. So I have purchased a Pentax Optio camera, which is exactly the right size to fit into an empty Altoids tin. This will be the first trip on which I have used this digital camera, and I was anxious to see how the pictures would turn out.
As a footnote here, they did turn out well (given that I used the camera the right way), and so from this point on in my picture-taking, I have been using this digital camera almost exclusively. That is what makes doing this online photo album really possible; since the photos are already in digital format, I can avoid the whole process of making prints and then putting them in physical albums as I have been doing.
As of this writing, I have been working my way backwards in all the digital pictures that I have, creating these album pages with all their maps and aerial views and such. Now that I have arrived at this page, I am at the end of the digital pictures that I have (although Fred's go back further). Now, I am faced with the decision as to how to handle the physical prints that I have. I could scan them myself and create digital images, but that will be very time-consuming. Fortunately, now, in 2008, there are online services that will do that work for you, and I am in the middle of trying their services for the first time. If things work out well, the album page before this one, for our trip out West last month, will be the first page that uses those professionally scanned images, and I will let you know on that page, if you have not already seen it, how things turn out.
Our Arrival in San Antonio (7/4)
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One thing that Ron Ruckman and Ron and Jay have in common is that all three of them smoke. While Fred and I might wish that they didn't, at least Ron Ruckman has the nice patio out on the east side of the house where they can indulge. For reasons of their guest's comfort, smoking is not allowed inside the house.
We all made something to drink, and went and sat outside for a while talking. I think Ron and Jay enjoyed just relaxing outside; this is what they would probably be doing if they were at home anyway. Of course, Fred was outside as well, although he was more interested in the various plants that Prudence has put in her garden.
Anyway, we just hung out until Prudence was done with her afternoon routines and came out to join us. I have forgotten where we went for dinner, but that was basically the only other item on the agenda for today.
Touring Around San Antonio (7/5)
The Mercado
Ron and Prudence had two other guests this weekend, and of course Ron made them breakfast while the four of us were getting up and around. When the guests were done, then Ron made a wonderful breakfast for the four of us and for himself and Prudence. After that, they had a bit of work to do around the house.
While they were doing that, Fred and I took Ron and Jay to see Guy's church and then to The Mercado- the huge Mexican market complex on this side of downtown. The Mercado is basically a large indoor shopping mall with lots of small stands and shops selling anything and everything, but all of it with a Mexican flavor- food, ceramics, furniture- just about everything. One of Prudence's rooms is The Sun Room, and it has a Mexican theme, so I am always looking out for something that might go well in that room. I thought perhaps I might suggest this colorful ceramic frog to her, but Fred was of the opinion that it was way too schlocky for Prudence's tastes.
The other stop we made while we were out this first time was to the Mexican bakery that is adjacent to The Mercado Restaurant, a Mexican place we have eaten at a number of times. The bakery is always crowded, so you just have to take a number and wait your turn. That we did, and we returned to Ruckman Haus with a bag of goodies for later.
The King William Area
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Ruckman Haus is in an area known as Monte Vista, which is a mile or so north of the beginning of downtown proper, just north of San Pedro Park. There are a number of B&Bs in this area, and most of the owners are by now close friends for Ron and Prudence. But the older and more concentrated area of B&Bs is in King William, which is almost directly south of Ruckman Haus about three miles (or maybe a little less). You get there just by skirting the west side of downtown, as King William is just a little southwest of downtown and the Riverwalk.
King William has a large number of B&Bs- maybe fifteen or twenty- and it is supposed to be a better area because it is within walking distance (albeit a mile or so) of downtown and the Riverwalk. The prices down here apparently reflect that closeness to the action along the Riverwalk.
Ron and Prudence drove us through the neighborhood, pointing out many of the more famous houses, and showed us the very southern end of the San Antonio River. After driving (and walking) around King William for a while, we stopped in to a favorite place of Ron and Prudence's- Mad Hatters. The small restaurant is known for its coffee, desserts and wines, but they also serve sandwiches and stuff like that. We just stopped in for dessert and iced tea (although Prudence had a glass of wine). I am still learning about my camera, so the picture I took of our group turned out a bit fuzzy. The picture that Fred took, shown here, turned out better.
At Ruckman Haus (7/5)
By the time we got back to Ruckman Haus, Guy Blair was finished with his services at his church, and he came over to Ruckman Haus to join us. For Fred and myself, I was making frozen rumaritas, and so was hard at work in the kitchen. Fred was able to get a good candid shot of Ron, myself and Jay in the kitchen as I was getting some stuff out of the second refrigerator, and I was able to return the favor and get what I thought was an excellent picture of Fred watching and listening to our conversations. Once everyone had something to drink, we went out onto the East Patio, which is where Guy found us. In that last picture, from left to right, are Prudence, Ron Ruckman, Guy, myself, Ron Mathis and Jay.
As often happens when Guy and Ron Ruckman get together, the discussion gets more and more lively, and Fred got a shot of Ron making a point in his discussion with Guy and I. Fred left the group for a while to take some pictures of the East side of the house, now that the garden is really coming along. One shot looks down towards the new fountain, while another looks from the fountain back towards the patio. Fred also got a good picture from the very end of the patio of everyone sitting around the patio table.
We were still conversing as it started to get dark and the discussion turned to where we might go to eat. We settled on Landry's, I believe it was, and as we left Ruckman Haus, Fred had Ron Ruckman take a picture of our group at the top of the front steps. Take a look at that picture here. Ron got us into the restaurant and at a table in short order; I think that he and the manager of the restaurant are friends. After the appetizers, but unfortunately while Prudence was away from the table, I got a picture of us at dinner.
Morning at Ruckman Haus (7/6)
This morning, after another delicious breakfast, we planned to go down to the Riverwalk and the Alamo with Ron and Jay. While we were waiting for everyone to be ready to go, Fred wandered around Ruckman Haus taking some pictures, and I think many of them turned out well. You might want to see a selection culled from all the pictures he took. To see the full-size images, just click on the thumbnails:
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 English Room |
 Sun Room Sitting Area |
 Sun Room Bed Area |
 Highlands Master Bed |
 Highlands Day Bed |
You can use the links below to return to the previous page for our Western Trip, or return to the Index, from which point you can continue through the photo album.
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July 21-23, 2003: A Trip to Buffalo, New York |
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June 21-28, 2003: A Trip Out West |
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Return to Index for 2003 |
